Treatment of textile materials



Patented Sept. 3, 1 935- UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE No Drawing. Application January 11,1934, Serial No. 108,300. In Great Britain January 11, 1933 10 Claims. (oi. 91-68) v This invention relates to the treatment of tex tile materials in order to inhibit the growth thereon of moulds or fungi such as occurs particularly in warm moist climates. -The inven- 5 tion relates in particular to the treatment of textile materials suitable for the production of impermeable coated fabrics e. g. leathercloth.

I nating solution.

It has already been proposed to treat textiles with materials possessing fungicidal properties such for example as zinc salicylate or thallium carbonate.

I have now found that a particularly suitable substance for preventing or retarding the growth of moulds or fungi on textiles comprises the insoluble precipitate formed by treating an aqueous solution of boric acid or a soluble borate with an aqueous solution of barium hydroxide or a soluble barium salt, the precipitate formed being liable to some variation in composition. This precipitate has particular advantages for treating textiles in that it is non-toxic, has no deleterious eflect on the'tensile strength of the textile or the colouring thereof and is substantially insoluble so that it is not removed if the textile is washed or exposed to rain.

According to the present invention therefore the growth of moulds or iungi on textile materials is inhibited by impregnating the said materials with an insoluble precipitate comprising barium botate, preferably in amount between 1 and 5 per cent of the weight of the material being treated.

The insoluble barium borate may be applied in the form of a suspension in water, gum-water, starch pasteor the like, for instance by passing the textile through a bath consisting of such a suspension, drying it, and repeating the process if desired. This method of application is convenient if it'is desired to treat the textile with filling materials, in which case the insoluble barium borate may be mixed with the fillers. I prefer, however, to precipitate the insoluble barium borate within the space between the individual fibres or threads, or it may be within the fibres themselves, by first impregnating the textile with one of the reacting solutions and then allowing it to come into contact with the other reacting solution under conditions such that insolubleb'arimn borate is precipitated. Any soluble products of the reaction may then be washed out. Fixing agents such as gelatine, gum, starch paste, and the like may be present in the impreg- The insoluble barium borate mayalsobeusedinpaints. 'I'husforexampie textile materials may be treated withcoating composition containing asuitable proportion of insoluble precipitated barium borate.

The following examples illustrate the second of the two methods outlined above.

A 5% aqueous solution of borax is added to a 3% aqueous solution of barium chloride until a precipitate just commences to form, and the solution is then raised to the boiling point. Cot- They are found to be free from mould growth after inoculation with a mixture of the spores of commonly occurring moulds, including pennicilium glaucum, and storage for 30 days in a dark atmosphere saturated with water vapour at 28 C.

' Example 2 Cotton cloth is boiled in a solution containing 15 kg. of boric acid, 3 kg. of gelatine, and 300 kg.

'ton cloth is thoroughly soaked in this solution of water, A second solution is made up by 30 adding to 300 litres of bar'yta water saturated at room temperature, just suflicient of a solution containing 15 kg. boric acid and 3 kg. of gelatine in 300 kg. of water to cause incipient precipitation. The resulting solution is brought to boil- 3 ing point, and the cloth already treated with the boric acid gelatine solution is then boiled with the solution for a quarter of an hour, and after removal is washed and dried. Cloth prepared in this way is very suitable for use as base cloth in the manufacture of leathercloth.

In the absence of filling materials it is inad-' visable to attempt to incorporate more than about 5% of the insoluble barium borate with the textile since on the one hand much lower quantities 4 are quite efiective, and on the other hand larger quantities are-too easily brushed or shaken out, or otherwise removed by mechanical action. It is generally not possible tointroduce as high amounts of insoluble barium borate by the suspension method as by the precipitation method without liability to mechanical removal, and by either method it is desirable to use a fixing agent,

it relatively high amountsarc to be incorporated.

Iclaim.

' '1. A method of inhibiting the growth of moulds or fungi on textile materials which includes the step of impregnating the said materials with an insoluble precipitate comprising barium borate.

2. A method of inhibiting the growth of moulds or fungi on textile materials which includes the steps of impregnating the said materials successively with two aqueous solutions adapted on reaction to precipitate insoluble barium borate.

3. A method of inhibiting the growth of moulds or fungi on textile materials which includes the steps of. adding an, aqueous solution containing barium chloride to an aqueous solution containing borax until precipitation commences, impregnating a textile material with the so prepared solusolution obtained by adding an aqueous solution containing boric acid to baryta water until precipitation commences.

5. Textile materials impregnated with an insoluble precipitate comprising barium borate.

6. Textile materials impregnated with insoluble barium borate in amount between one and five per cent of the weight of the said material.

'7. Textile materials impregnated with an insoluble precipitate comprising barium borate and a fixing agent selected from the group; gelatine, gum, starch.

8. Impermeable coated fabrics in which the base textile material is impregnated with an insoluble precipitate comprising barium borate.

9. Leathercloth in which the base textile ma-' terial is impregnated with an insoluble precipitate comprising barium borate.

l0. Coating compositions for textile materials the said compositions containing an insoluble pre- "cipitate comprising barium borate.

CHARLES RICHARD NOEL SI'RdUTS 

